Hapee ending for rallying nationals

The Hapee Philippine Team had one valuable lesson learned – playing with a big heart makes a big difference. Coming from a 62-59 blowout by Talk ‘N Text last Friday and facing the specter of another embarrassing loss at the hands of Coca-Cola last night, RP Hapee set aside the X’s and O’s of the game and simply bared its heart and soul to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against the Tigers last night in the Samsung PBA Governors Cup at the Makati Coliseum.

The national hopefuls fashioned out the most remarkable victory in the season thus far by fighting back from 57-31 halftime deficit en route to an 87-77 triumph over the badly-stunned Tigers.

"This is all about heart," said national coach Jong Uichico after grabbing the victory at the hands of the Tigers.

"When everything is not going well, wala nang ibang magsasalba sa team kung hindi ang puso," Uichico added. "And that’s the attitude na dapat na dalhin naming sa Asian Games.

Davonn Harp, Mick Pennisi, Danny Ildefonso, Jeffrey Cariaso and Boyet Fernandez formed the team that put its heart in the game in the fourth quarter.

Still down by 14 at 59-73 with seven minutes left to play, the quintet keyed a major turnaround by the national hopefuls that had the team going all the way to notching their second win in three starts. They dealt the Tigers their second loss against the same number of victories.

So spirited was the RP Hapee comeback that it limited Coca-Cola to four points in the last seven minutes of play.

Along the way, the national hopefuls also fought Coca-Cola Tigers Rossel Ellis and Fred Williams in a thrash-talking battle. It nearly escalated into a brawl with Ellis attacking the RP Hapee dugout after the game.

So disappointed and infuriated was Ellis after the contest which they utterly dominated three-fourth of the way.

The Tigers had their brightest moment in the game in the second quarter where they pounded a massive RP Hapee breakdown, going on a 25-0 run and darting to a 57-31 lead at halftime. Coca-Cola outscored RP Hapee, 36-6, in that quarter.

The Tigers even padded that lead to 28 at 66-38 following a three0pointer by Williams but the national hopefuls narrowed the gap to 18, 52-70, at the end of the third period.

Then, Harp, Pennisi, Ildefonso, Cariaso and Fernandez pressed their comeback bid in the payoff quarter.

A fierce 18-0 attack had RP Hapee seizing the lead at 77-73. The national hopefuls would not relinquish the lead from there. Harp had a near double-double game with 23 points and nine rebounds. Cariaso, Rudy Hatfield and Ildefonso added 15, 14 and 11 points, respectively.